Web Dev Ireland

Behold!!

The Proceratium google

Brian L. Fisher, Associate Curator of Entomology, California Academy of Sciences has named this ant after google. Mr. Fisher was so impressed with the help google gave him in setting up a “bio-map” of ants around the world using google earth that he named an ant after them!

We tried to get NASA’s help to develop such a system for years with their mapping expertise and data, but Google Earth answered the call first. I am so impressed with Google that I have named an ant I recently discovered in Madagascar Proceratium google. Its bizarrely-shaped abdomen is an adaptation for hunting down obscure prey: spider eggs.

Google have allowed antweb (run by Mr. Fisher and the California Academy of Science) to create an interface to google earth. So now using google earth and linking it to the antwebs mappings you can see where different species of ants around the world have habitats! It’s pretty cool.

Since the tragic events in New Orleans caused by hurricane Katrina, I thought that this article I read might be of interest to some people. New Scientist magazine has written an article about detecting when a hurricane is about to intensify(they see these things called “Hot towers”) and how they can tell now with more certainty when a hurricane is likely to occur (Water temperature).

This image from the AMSR-E instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows the average sea surface temperatures from August 25 to 27. Areas in yellow, orange or red represents 28°C (82°F) or above – enough to enable a hurricane to strengthen (Image: NASA/SVS)

There is a very interesting movie clip(10Mb/Mpg) which shows the water temperature of the Gulf of Mexico for the entire month leading up to the formation of hurricane Katrina.

On a more somber note about the hurricane, it’s sad that the “richest” country in the world does not even have the ability to help it’s own people in a crisis. People don’t even have water or shelter, Typhoid and Colera outbreaks are expected over the coming weeks if the bodies are not removed from the flood waters. Three week old babies are on the side of the street with their mothers with no food!